Sweet Autumn Virginsbower

Clematis terniflora is commonly cultivated as an ornamental. It is widely naturalized in the eastern United States. The name C . paniculata J. F. Gmelin was incorrectly used for this species by Thunberg in 1794.

Some authors have recognized two or more varieties in this species, correlated with their distribution in Asia, but in the study by H.Hara (1975), all of the varietal names were reduced to synonymy.

Stems climbing with tendril-like petioles and leaf rachises, 3-6 m. Leaf blade pinnately 3- or 5-foliolate; leaflets ovate or broadly lanceolate to narrowly deltate, to 6.5 × 3.5 cm, margins entire; surfaces abaxially glabrous or very sparingly appressed-strigose on major veins. Inflorescences axillary, 3-12-flowered cymes or compound cymes or paniculate with cymose subunits. Flowers bisexual, often some unisexual (staminate) in same inflorescence; pedicel 1-3.5 cm, slender; sepals wide-spreading, not recurved, white, linear or elliptic to lanceolate or narrowly obovate, 0.9-2.2 cm, length ca. 2-3 times width, abaxially tomentose along margins, adaxially glabrous; stamens ca. 50; filaments glabrous; staminodes absent; pistils 5-10. Achenes broad, flat, conspicuously rimmed, minutely appressed-silky, sometimes sparsely so; beak 2-6 cm.

Vines woody. Branches shallowly 4--10-grooved, puberulous or only nodes puberulous. Leaves pinnate, 5(--7)-foliolate; petiole 2.5--4.5 cm; leaflet blades ovate to narrowly ovate, sometimes ovate-lanceolate, 2.5--8 × 1--4.2 cm, papery to subleathery, both surfaces sparsely puberulous, glabrescent, base rounded, subcordate, or broadly cuneate, margin entire, apex acute to obtuse; basal veins abaxially ± prominent to nearly flat. Cymes axillary or terminal, usually many flowered; peduncle 1--7 cm; bracts linear, elliptic, or oblong, 0.8--3.5(--5) cm. Flowers 1.4--3 cm in diam. Pedicel 0.5--3 cm, puberulous or glabrous. Sepals 4, white, spreading, obovate-oblong to oblong, 5--15 × 2--6 mm, abaxially puberulous or glabrous, adaxially glabrous, margin abaxially velutinous, apex ± acute to obtuse. Stamens 3--7(--8) mm, glabrous; anthers narrowly oblong to oblong, 2--3 mm, apex obtuse or minutely apiculate. Ovaries pubescent. Style 4--7 mm, densely villous. Achenes orange-yellow, broadly elliptic to obovate, 4--9 × 2.5--6 mm, appressed pubescent; persistent style 1.2--4 cm, plumose. Fl. Jun--Aug, fr. Aug--Nov.

C. China, Taiwan, Korea, Japan; planted around Kathmandu.

introduced; Ont.; Ala., Ark., Conn., Fla., Ga., Ill., Ind., Kans., Ky., La., Md., Mass., Miss., Mo., Nebr., N.H., N.J., N.Y., N.C., Ohio, Okla., Pa., S.C., Tenn., Tex., Va., W.Va.; native to Asia (China, Korea, Japan).

S Anhui, Heilongjiang, S Henan, Hubei, Jiangsu, Jiangxi, Jilin, Liaoning, Nei Mongol, SE Shaanxi, S Taiwan, Zhejiang [Japan, Korea, Mongolia, Russia (Siberia)].

1400-1600 m

Flowering summer (Jul-Sep).

Roadsides, thickets, and other secondary sites, edges of woods near creeks; 0-1000m.

Forest margins, scrub on slopes, grassy areas on hills, among rocks in coastal areas; near sea level to 800 m.

Clematis dioscoreifolia H. Léveillé & Vaniot; C. dioscoreifolia var. robusta (Carr) Rehder; C. maximowicziana Franchet & Savatier